New air ambulance service opens in Tri-Cities to transport critical Eastern WA patients

Airlift Northwest, the air medical transport service of UW Medicine, has opened a new base at the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco to transport patients needing critical care.

“It is a flying ICU, that can quickly and safely get patients where they need to go for comprehensive care while also caring for them in flight,” said Aries Gum, a flight nurse and base manager for Airlift Northwest.

A Pilatus PC-12 turboprop airplane will be based here to serve Central and Eastern Washington, flying patients in emergencies or needing hospital transfers.

UW Medicine, which includes Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said the aircraft was ideal to maneuver in the sometimes adverse weather around the Cascade Mountains.

It can land on smaller runways in rural communities, UW Medicine said.

The plane is staffed by two critical care flight nurses and may carry a ventilator. It can transport patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which is similar to a heart-lung bypass machine.

“Airlift Northwest is the only air medical transport service in the region that has two units of blood and plasma at every base, which are proven to increase survival rates for trauma patients when transfused in flight,” said Dr. Rich Utarnachitt, Medical Director, Airlift Northwest.

In the last year, 124 patients received blood products en route to emergency facilities, according to Airlift Northwest.

Airlift Northwest is offering memberships to its service, which transports patients to the closest, most appropriate hospital, because health insurance often does not cover all of an air ambulance bill. Cost is $60 a year per household.

This story was originally published October 25, 2021 at 12:55 PM with the headline "New air ambulance service opens in Tri-Cities to transport critical Eastern WA patients."